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Below are some tidbits on baseball and sportscard collecting along with a listing of the All-Time and Active Leaders in a selected statistical cateogry. Visit our web site for more info on vintage and current baseball, football, basketball, hockey, sports and non-sport cards and card collecting.

Q1: How long have sports cards been around ? (part 1) The first baseball trading cards date back to 1869. For many years, baseball cards were packaged in packs of tobacco as a way to increase sales the same way that today prizes are packaged in boxes of cereal. In the 1920's and 1930's, candy and gum companies started packaging baseball cards in their products as well. Baseball card production was virtually halted in the early 1940's due to paper shortages created by World War II. The "Modern Era" of baseball cards began in 1948 when Bowman Gum Inc. offered one card and one piece of gum in a pack for a penny. The first important football set was the Mayo set featuring college players in 1984. Other than the 1935 National Chicle set no other key football set was issued until 1948 when noth Bowman and Leaf produced sets. The Major Card Grading Companies (T6) There is almost universal agreement that the top 5 grading card companies are:     * PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator)     * SGC (Sportscard Guaranty Authority)     * BGS (Beckett Grading Service)     * SCD (SCD Authentic)     * GAI (Global Authentication) PSA is Without a doubt is the top vintage and old cards grading company. The vintage card public has accepted PSA and people pay huge premiums for vintage cards with high PSA grades. A few years ago, Beckett got into card-grading. They have been successful because they publish the hobbies top magazine and their name carries a lot of weight in the hobby. Also their BGS grading is perceived as being tougher than PSA. Unfortunately Beckett has complicated things further by actually having 3 different grading brands. BGS, BVG and BCCG. BGS is the original and considered a grade very strictly while BVG, basically designed to grade vintage cards, seems to grade a bit easier. BCCG seems to have been created for the Shopping Channel and seems to give their top grades to just about any nice recent card. These differences in grading standards are reflected in their resale prices. Off-brand grading companies There's many lesser known grading companies with more of them appearing seemingly every single day. Some are actual companies while others may be just a single individual with some fairly inexpensive equipment. A list of some of the ones we've heard of is below. It is possible that some of them do grade accurately but the market has little respect for these off-brand grading companies and their cards, if they can be sold, are usually sold at huge discounts off similarly rated cards by the top tier grading companies. This is especially true on high grade vintage cards orGEM MINT and MINT recent cards. If you want to buy graded cards by these companies, be very careful to not pay too much. DO NOT compare their price with graded cards from the top tier companies. In most cases, the going prices aren't even close. If a PSA-9 sells for $40, and a PSA-10 sells for $300, it is more likely that a 10 from an off-brand grading company sells for much closer to the $40 than to the $300. If you don't understand that the discount is this deep, and you spend $100 on this thing, you may think you got a great deal when in fact you paid double or triple or more of the cards true value. For example, we once sold a PRO-10 Shaq rookie for $30 when the PSA-10 of that Shaq rookie was valued at $300. If you see a great bargain on a vintage card then be especially careful. If a '51 Bowman Mantle is in a PRO-8 slab, you must ask yourself why is it not in a PSA slab? In PSA-8 that card would sell for more than a new Mercedes and any right minded seller would try to get the card into a PSA slab if it was possible. That they didn't do it has to be a clue that it wasn't possible. Why wouldn't it be possible? There are many reasons but the most obvious are that the card may be altered or there could be a very light crease. As far as I know, these off-brand grading services do not offer grading guarantees. If you buy an off-brand graded vintage card and it turns out to be trimmed or altered or has light creases your only recourse will likely be with seller and often their answer will be that since the card was "professionally" gradedm the card is sold as is. "Off-Brand" grading card companies     AGS (Advanced Grading Specialists)     ASA (Accugrade)     CGS (Champs Grading Service)     CEX (Certified Express)     CSA (Certified Sports Authentication)     CTA (CTA Grading Experts)     FGA (Foremost Grading Authority)     KSA (KSA Sports Card Authenticator)     MINT (Mint Grading Service)     PRO (PRO Sports Grading)     PGS (Professional Grading Services)     USA (Ultimate Sports Authority)     WCG (World Class Grading) Although some of the above may be "okay", we certainly don't recommend any of them. The market certainly doesn't treat them the same as the top-tier grading companies and in many cases their graded cards sell for the same or even less than an ungraded card. There are more off-brand grading "companies" entering the market. Some don't even use slabs, they simply put the cards in a screwdown or topload with a few drops of glue or a sticker. We've even seen "grading companies" that turn out to be just an individual seller grading and selling his own cards.

***  TRIPLES  -  ALL-TIME Leaders  ***
Rank Player (age)        Triples
 1.  Sam Crawford HOF      309
 2.  Ty Cobb HOF           295
 3.  Honus Wagner HOF      252
 4.  Jake Beckley HOF      243
 5.  Roger Connor HOF      233
 6.  Tris Speaker HOF      222
 7.  Fred Clarke HOF       220
 8.  Dan Brouthers HOF     205
 9.  Joe Kelley HOF        194
10.  Paul Waner HOF        191
11.  Bid McPhee HOF        188
12.  Eddie Collins HOF     187
13.  Ed Delahanty HOF      185
14.  Sam Rice HOF          184
15.  Jesse Burkett HOF     182
     Ed Konetchy           182
     Edd Roush HOF         182
18.  Buck Ewing HOF        178
19.  Rabbit Maranville HOF 177
     Stan Musial HOF       177
21.  Harry Stovey          174
22.  Goose Goslin HOF      173
23.  Tommy Leach           172
     Zack Wheat HOF        172
25.  Rogers Hornsby HOF    169
26.  Joe Jackson           168
27.  Roberto Clemente HOF  166
     Sherry Magee          166
29.  Jake Daubert          165
30.  Elmer Flick HOF       164
     George Sisler HOF     164
     Pie Traynor HOF       164
33.  Bill Dahlen           163
     George Davis HOF      163
     Lou Gehrig HOF        163
     Nap Lajoie HOF        163
37.  Mike Tiernan          162
38.  George Van Haltren    161
39.  Harry Hooper HOF      160
     Heinie Manush HOF     160
     Sam Thompson HOF      160
42.  Max Carey HOF         159
     Joe Judge             159
44.  Ed McKean             158
45.  Kiki Cuyler HOF       157
     Jimmy Ryan            157
47.  Tommy Corcoran        155
48.  Earle Combs HOF       154
49.  Jim Bottomley HOF     151
     Harry Heilmann HOF    151
     Jim O'Rourke HOF      151
52.  Kip Selbach           149
     Al Simmons HOF        149
54.  Wally Pipp            148
     Enos Slaughter HOF    148
56.  Bobby Veach           147
     Willie Wilson         147
58.  Charlie Gehringer HOF 146
59.  Harry Davis           145
     Willie Keeler HOF     145
61.  Bobby Wallace HOF     143
62.  Cap Anson HOF         142
63.  Lou Brock HOF         141
64.  Willie Mays HOF       140
65.  John Reilly           139
     Jimmy Williams        139
67.  Tom Brown             138
     Willie Davis          138
     Frankie Frisch HOF    138
70.  George Brett HOF      137
71.  Babe Ruth HOF         136
     Jimmy Sheckard        136
     Elmer Smith           136
74.  Lave Cross            135
     Pete Rose             135
76.  Shano Collins         133
77.  George Wood           132
78.  Brett Butler          131
     Joe DiMaggio HOF      131
     Buck Freeman          131
81.  Buddy Myer            130
82.  Oyster Burns          129
     Larry Gardner         129
84.  Earl Averill HOF      128
     Arky Vaughan HOF      128
86.  Vada Pinson           127
87.  Hardy Richardson      126
     Robin Yount HOF       126
89.  Jimmie Foxx HOF       125
90.  John Anderson         124
     Hal Chase             124
     Frank Schulte         124
93.  Larry Doyle           123
     Duke Farrell          123
95.  Dummy Hoy             121
96.  Mickey Vernon         120
97.  Hugh Duffy HOF        119
     Fred Pfeffer          119
99.  Joe Cronin HOF        118
     Chick Stahl           118
     Lloyd Waner HOF       118

***  TRIPLES  -  Active Leaders  ***
Rank Player (age)        Triples
 1.  Steve Finley (40)     112
 2.  Kenny Lofton (38)      98
 3.  Johnny Damon (31)      80
 4.  Barry Bonds (40)       77
 5.  Jose Offerman (36)     72
 6.  Ray Durham (33)        70
 7.  Cristian Guzman (27)   67
 8.  Luis Gonzalez (37)     63
 9.  Neifi Perez (32)       60
10.  Reggie Sanders (37)    59
     Ruben Sierra (39)      59
     Tony Womack (35)       59
13.  Omar Vizquel (38)      58
14.  Bernie Williams (36)   55
15.  Carlos Beltran (28)    54
     Royce Clayton (35)     54
     Julio Franco (46)      54
     Ray Lankford (38)      54
19.  Craig Biggio (39)      52
     Jimmy Rollins (26)     52
21.  Nomar Garciaparra (31) 50
22.  Carl Crawford (23)     49
     Raul Mondesi (34)      49
     Michael Tucker (34)    49
     Fernando Vina (36)     49
26.  Juan Pierre (27)       48
27.  Brian Giles (34)       47
     Derek Jeter (31)       47
     Mark McLemore (40)     47
     Jose Vizcaino (37)     47

1952 Wheaties Champions In 1952 Wheaties issued this set of cards on the back of their boxes. The 2" x 2-3/4" cards needed to be hand cut from the back of the boxes making high quality samples almost impossible to find. The set featured 30 different champions from a variety of sports in both "Portrait" and "In-Action" poses for a total of 60 different cards. 10 of the 30 athletes are baseball players with football, basketball, golf, bowling, diving and other sports also included. Top players in the set are Ted Williams, Stan Musial, George Mikan, Ben Hogan and Otto Graham.

1969 Topps Stamps This was Topps 3rd stamp issue in the last eight years and it was a good one !!! The stamps were not inserts but a totally separate issue . For a nickel you got a strip of twelve stamps plus a mini album. The 1969 Topps Stamps complete set contains 240 stamps. The 1 x 1-7/16 inch stamps were unnumbered and featured a color photo with the player's name, team and position inside a colored banner at the bottom of the stamp. The stamps were released in both vertical and horizontal strips of 12 stamps. The 1969 Topps Stamps are often confused with Topps' 1974 issue. The 1974 Topps Stamps have ovals rather than banners at the bottom and were released only in 12-stamp horizontal panels. Along with the stamps, Topps also issued a set of 24 albums, one per team, to store them in. The 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" orange albums were the same size as a baseball card and held a complete 10-stamp team set. To add even more collecting fun, the album's back cover had facsimile autographs of the ten players shown in the album. The 1969 Topps Stamps set is packed with stars like Pete Rose along with tons of Hall-of-Famers including MICKEY MANTLE, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente & many, many more !!!

1955 Topps All-American Football In 1955, college football was much more popular with fans than the NFL. This 100 card 1955 Topps All-American Football card set was Topps response to collectors. Topps first major football issue this unique set features the greatest college football players from the first half of the 20th century. The 1955 Topps All-American football card set was issued in one-card penny packs, nine-card nickel packs and 22-card cello packs. The set is jam packed with rookies and stars !!! One of the most valuable 1955 Topps All-American football cards is the rookie card of former Supreme Court Justice Whizzer White. TOP ROOKIES: The Four Horseman, Whizzer White, Fats Henry, Doc Blanchard, Don Hutson, Amos Stagg, Tom Harmon, Ernie Nevers & MORE !!! TOP STARS: Knute Rockne, Jim Thorpe, Sammy Baugh, Red Grange, Otto Graham, Johnny Lujack, Beattie Feathers & MORE !!!

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